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(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

'R. V. R SILL. ELECTRIC RAILWAY.

No. 425,912. r Patented Apr. 15, 1890.

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2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

' Patenfied Apr. 15. 1890.

R. V. R. SILL. ELEGTRIG RAILWAY.

(No Model.)

luwuj WOW UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RICHARD V. R. SILL, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO STRATHEARN HENDRIE, OF SAME PLACE.

ELECTRIC RAILWAY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 425,912, dated April 15, 1890.

Application filed March 13, 1889. Serial No. 303,111. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, RICHARD V. R. SILL, of Detroit, in the county of Wayne and State of Michigan, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Electric Railways, of which the following is a specification.

My invention consists in an improvement in electric railways, hereinafter fully described and claimed.

Figure 1 is a plan view showing the top of the switch or apparatus used to automatically regulate the course of the current. Fig. 3 is an end view of the same; and Fig. 2 is a horizontal section on the line 00 as, Fig. 3. Fig. 4 is aplan view of a portion of a railway, showing the course of the current and the connection of the switch shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3 with the rails. Fig. 5 is a plan view of the car, showing the way in which electrical connection is made between the motor and the wheels of the car.

U represents a switch or automatic regulator of the electric current, consisting of a box containing the following mechanisms:

H I J B are binding-posts.

b 0 cl m are metal cups containing mercury.

n is a wire connecting the cups m and a.

ij are levers pivoted upon horizontal axes on the standards Z and k.

e e is a metal yoke fixed in the movable end of the lever t', and adapted to dip one of its ends into the mercury contained in the cup d and its other end into the mercury contained in the cup m when the lever z' is down, and to be withdrawn from the mercury contained in the cups (1 and at when said lever is raised.

ff is a metal yoke entirely similar to the yoke e e, which is attached to the movable end of the lever j and dips into the mercury in the cups 1) and a when the lever j is down.

C a are magnets of soft iron charged by a current passing through the coils around them and suspended over pieces of soft iron attached to the levers t and j.

A is the main wire from the dynamo, and is connected to the binding-post I.

h is a wire connecting, the binding-post I with the cup g, One end of the coil around the magnet C is connected to the bindingpost B. The other end of said coil is connected to the binding-post J. One end of the coil around the magnet a is connected to the binding-post H, and the other end of said coil is connected to the binding-post I. Fig. 5 is a plan view of the car, the wheels 8 t /V V of which are insulated from each other, except that the forward wheel WV on one side of the car is connected with a hind wheel V upon the other side of the car by a wire running through a motor of any known kind, and brushes on the ends of said wire resting against said wheels. Fig. 4 is a plan view of a portion of the track, showing its electrical connections. The rails are insulated from each other and from the ground. U U U" are switches for automatically regulating the course of the electric current, of the kind represented in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, and hereinbefore described. The v binding-post J is connected with the rail E by the wire D. The binding-post H is connected with the rail F by the wire G. N P S R are binding-posts upon the switch U, corresponding, respectively, with the binding-posts 7 5 H I J B on the switch, and O V are magnets on the switch U, corresponding to the magnets (6 C on the switch U. The binding-post I is connected with the binding-post R by the wire K. The binding-post S is connected with the rail it by the wire '1. The bindingpost N is connected with the rail L by the wire M. The binding-post P is connected by the wire Q with the binding-post on the switch U, which corresponds to the binding posts B and R on the switches U and U.

A switch of the kind shown is placed between the adjoining ends of each pair of opposite rails, and is connected with each pair of opposite rails and with the two adjoining 9o switches in the way shown and described. Instead of having each opposite pair of rails constitute a section, as illustrated, any desired number of pairs may be ,one section by electrical connections between F L, &c., and between E u,'&c.

The operation of my invention is as follows: "When the levers 2' j are down, connection is made between the wires A and K through the binding-post B, wire h, cup 01, I00 yoke e 6, cup 1%, wire a, cup 0, yoke ff, cup h, wire 9, and binding-post I, and thecurrent takes that course without going to the rails at all. Suppose the car to rest'with all four current passing through the coil around thewheels upon the railsE and F. Tostart the car the lever i or j is raised by hand, lifting the yoke e e or f f out of the mercury contained in the cups (1 m or c I), thus breaking the connection through said cups between the wires A and K. The current then passes from the wire A to binding-post B, through the coil around the magnet C to binding-post J, through the wire D to the rail E, through the car-wheels and motor to the rail F, through the wire G to the binding-post H, through the coil around the magnet on to the binding-post I, and. thence through the wire K and other switches back to dynamo.

and a will charge said magnets, which will hold both the levers 'i and j raised and keep the connection through the cups d m c 1) broken. When the wheel W of the car passes from the rail F to the rail L, the connection through the rail F is broken, the current will no longer pass through the coilaround the magnet a, and the lever j will fall. The course ofthe current will then be as follows: from the wire A to the binding-post B, through the coil around the magnet O to the binding-post J, through the wire D to the rail E, through the car-wheels and motor to the rail L, through the wire M to the binding-post N, through the coil around the magnet O to the binding-post B, thence through the wire Q and the remainder of the switches back to the dynamo. The

magnet 0 will charge said magnet, which will raise the lever j in the switch U, thus breaking the connection through the cups d m c b in the switch U. When the Wheel V passes from the rail E to the rail u, the coni fall, completing the connection through the cups d m c h in the switch U. The course of the current will then be as follows: from the wire A through the cups d m c b in the switch U, as before described, to the wire K, to the binding-post B, through the coil around the magnet 0, thus raising the lever 'i in the switch U, to the binding-post S, through the wire T to the rail it, through the car-Wheels and motor to the rail L, through the wire M to the binding-post N, through the coil around the magnet O to the binding-post P, to the wire Q, thence through the remaining switches and their connecting-wires to the dynamo.

The same set of operations are performed automatically by the apparatus as the car passes each pair of rails. The apparatus having been once set in operation by raising by hand one of the levers '5, the apparatus afterward directs the current in its proper course automatically.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The current passing through the coils around the magnets O 1 1. In an electric railway, a track divided into sections, a single electrical conductor extending along the track, an electrically-operated switch connected with the conductor,

between each section of track and having each terminal connected with one rail, and a motor having its poles connected with the rails, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

2. In an electric railway, a track whose rails are divided electrically intosections, a single track with which said switch is connected and restores said circuit after the car has passed said section, substantially as set forth.

3. In an electric railway, the combination of a track divided into sections, the electrical circuit A K, and the switch U, having its binding-posts B J connected with the partA ot the circuit and also with one rail, its bindingposts I H connected with the part K of the circuit and also with the other rail, and having a connection controlled by an electromagnet between binding-posts B and I, substantially as and for the purposes set forth. 4. In combination with a railway-track divided electrically into sections, an electric circuit extending along said track and connected in each section of track with the switch U, composed of the mercury-cups d m and c b, pivoted levers i and j, electro-magnets O a, connection 91., and binding-posts B, J, I, and II, said binding-post B being connected with the electric circuit and with binding-post J, the circuit between posts B and J passing around the electro-magnet C, and post I being connected with one rail, said binding-post I being connected with binding-post H by a conductor which passes around the core of magnet a, and being also connected with the other rail, substantially as shown and described.

5. In an electric railway, a track electrically divided into sections, an electric circuit extending the length of the track, a switch in the circuit in each section of track connected both with the main circuit and with the 0pposite rails, and an electric motor having its poles connected with the rails, substantially as set forth.

RICHARD V. R. SILL.

IIO 

